Emporium of Lost Thoughts

We mourn our craft

Let’s Build an Adventure Scenario (Part 1)

Attribution: Imagination Explosion by lobster-popsicle (Own work) [Public domain], via Deviant Art] What is Art? Yes, I’m pretty sure a lot of people have defended entire PhD dissertations on this topic but, as I said before, André Gide wrote, “Toutes choses sont dites déjà; mais comme personne n’écoute, il faut toujours recommencer. [Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we…

Climbing Out of the Writer’s Pit of Despair

“It’s very dark in here….” (Attribution: The Evil Wiki) I just read a post by Wil Wheaton, “everything under the sun is in tune” and it actually inspired me to kludge together some sort of post for my blog. I have been having a bit of  trouble putting together anything for my blog. It’s supposed to be fun but it just hasn’t been for a while. I turn over ideas for blog posts in my head but…

A Metaphor for Struggling Mentally

Cup of Tea or Endless Trek? I read somewhere on the internet (maybe on Twitter?) about a person who was describing how some days are harder get through for them than others. They used the analogy of preparing tea. On an easy day, it feels like it takes maybe three steps. On a more difficult day, it might take six steps. On the most difficult days when even the simplest things feel…

Choosing a Virtual Tabletop (VTT) Solution for My Gaming Group

Attribution: Image by Ana Carolina Franco from Pixabay

Like just about everyone else in the world, my Pathfinder group and I have had to deal with not being able to meet in person to play because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This necessity forced us to look what options we have to try to continue play online in some way. The concept of a “Virtual Table Top” or VTT isn’t new but interest in it has…

Memory Is A Funny Thing My memory is and (infuriatingly) isn't very detailed when recalling things from my childhood.

Attribution: Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

“It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend / On a faulty camera in our minds” (What Sarah Said – Death Cab for Cuties)

My memory is and (infuriatingly) isn’t very detailed when recalling things from my childhood. For example, I will remember many details about teachers and other people from my childhood, like what they looked like…

This is just a quick post to call out that it's International Women's Day today (2020-03-08). If you have special women and girls in your life today, wish them well.

Image by ALBERTO FABREGAS from Pixabay

This is just a quick post to call out that it’s International Women’s Daytoday (2020-03-08). If you have special women and girls in your life today, wish them well. Also, today and every day, support them in any way you can by giving them the space to be who they want to be and to be heard. Personally, I am very thankful to all the indomitable,…

Capturing Inspiration...Methods of capturing ideas on the run

Attribution: By mohamed_hassan (Own work) [Public domain], via Pixabay

Maybe it’s happened to you, you’re at the grocery store or the park and suddenly you have the Best. Blog. Idea. Ever. You have to remember it but you’re not in front of your computer right now. What do you do? You try to commit it to memory until you get home. However, by the time you get back to your keyboard the idea is gone.…

Humour in the Morning ...where I speak about roosters screaming envy....

Figure 1: Attribution: Unknown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I found the above meme while wandering the Internet. To be honest, I have implemented a lot of what they speak about in this Popular Science article. I tend to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, whether of not it’s the weekend or not. Doing this and making sure I’m in bed earlier during the week has really…

Looking Back [and Maybe Forward?] Well. It's been more than six months since I've put up a post on this blog. Let's take a look at that, shall we?

Figure 1: Just a Man Stuck in a Gear Passing Time (Attribution: Free for commercial use, No attribution required, via Pixabay)

Well. It’s been more than six months since I’ve put up a post on this blog. Let’s take a look at that, shall we?

First off, I want to apologize for breaking my self-imposed rule of not talking about myself on this blog. I want this blog to be about ideas that…

Why I Love My Public Library

Figure 1: Attribution: By Brad Fonseca (Own work)

Figure 2: Support my blog on Ko-Fi

I love books. Every year, I challenge myself to read a certain number of books. This year, I’m aiming at 25 books. While I love owning books, I am a heavy user of my local library and my city’s library system. You could say that I’m library people. I thought it would be good to write a little something on…

Figure 1: Attribution: By LinkedIn [Fair Use], via LinkedIn Pulse

A friend sent me this articleand I found it to be a really good summary of what is wrong with capitalism in the United States and in an increasing extent the rest of the world. However, its proposed solutions don’t completely address the problem. This isn’t surprising as the intrinsic problems with capitalism as a system aren’t…

A Book of Boredom and Brilliance and Other Related Things

Figure 1: Attribution: By Author [Fair Use], via Author Web Site

I recently finished reading a very interesting book called “Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self” by Manoush Zomorodi. While some of the reviews I’ve seen are rather haughtily negative, I enjoyed this book. I already limit how much social media I consume but I don’t spend a lot of…

Happy Bat Appreciation Day! (April 17th)

Happy Bat Appreciation Day!

Today is International Bat Appreciation Day. Appreciate those flying mammals that soar by the power of jazz hands!

You though I was kidding?

Better Online Security (Not a New Year’s Resolution)

Figure 1: Attribution: Free for commercial use, No attribution required , via Pixabay

I’m not making a New Year’s resolution though it appears to be suspiciously close to the beginning of the year. I’ve decided to take my online privacy and security a little more seriously.

Recently, I listened to a podcast called IRL (specifically, Season 4, Episode 2 “Your Password Is the Worst”). It got me…

Gopher – The Other Web

Figure 1: My Gopher Hole as seen on DiggieDog Attribution: By bradfonseca (Own work)

Sometimes one goes down a rabbit hole investigating something and ends up somewhere they don’t expect. In this case, it’s actually a gopher hole but the end result is the same: a rapidly spinning propellor on my nerd beanie.

I made a couple pretty interesting (at least to me!) discoveries over the past two…